Why Russia's Novaya Gazeta Is Closing After Three Decades

Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's best-known independent news outlets, has announced that it is shutting down. Its editorial board said the Russian authorities and security services forced the closure, according to Al Jazeera and the BBC. The paper's staff will leave its Moscow newsroom on Nov. 9.

The decision removes one of the last critical voices still working from inside Russia, The Guardian reported. The paper's former editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

What did Novaya Gazeta announce?

The editorial board published a statement on Friday titled "We were killed," Al Jazeera reported. It said the Russian authorities and intelligence services forced the staff to stop work. The BBC said the statement accused the state of a coordinated act and blamed the repressive state apparatus.

Editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov said in a video statement that the staff would turn off the lights in their home of 30 years on Nov. 9, shut down the servers and leave, according to Al Jazeera.

Why is the paper closing?

Staff pointed to several pressures that arrived together. The Guardian reported that landlords told the newsroom this month to vacate its central Moscow offices by Nov. 9. All of the outlet's donation platforms were also shut down, leaving it with no source of funding, according to The Guardian and the BBC.

A criminal case against journalist Oleg Roldugin is a third factor. He was arrested in April and charged with "unlawful access to computerised information," according to the three outlets. The Guardian said he is under house arrest awaiting trial. Press service head Nadezhda Prusenkova told The Guardian that the court case, the eviction and the lack of money left the paper no choice.

Accounts differ on what happened to Sokolov. The Guardian and the BBC said his home was searched and he was taken in for questioning. Al Jazeera reported that authorities arrested him, and it quoted Reporters Without Borders as saying he was arrested on Oct. 15.

What was Novaya Gazeta known for?

The paper launched in the 1990s and became known for long-form reporting on corruption, human rights abuses and abuse of power by officials, according to The Guardian and the BBC. Six people connected with the paper have been killed, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot in the stairwell of her Moscow apartment block in 2006. The BBC noted that she covered the wars in Chechnya.

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the paper kept working under tighter restrictions. The Guardian said it stopped its print edition by the end of March 2022, lost its licence in September of that year and had its website blocked in Russia. Staff then published magazines with a print run of 999 copies, using a law that exempts publications under 1,000 copies from licensing. Readers used virtual private networks to get around the website block, the BBC said.

Some exiled former employees set up Novaya Gazeta Europe, which The Guardian described as a legally distinct outlet.

Why it matters: what the closure means for Russian media and readers

For readers in Russia, the closure removes a source of investigative reporting that had survived despite blocks and bans. Al Jazeera said few independent outlets or journalists remain in the country, and that censorship and arrests of critics have risen sharply since the invasion of Ukraine.

Under Russian law, journalists must call the war a "special military operation" or face consequences, The Guardian reported. The newsroom also houses a memorial museum to Politkovskaya in her former office. Prusenkova said the exhibits will be taken down and put into storage for now.

Reporters Without Borders asked how far the Kremlin's campaign against the paper would go, according to Al Jazeera. The group noted that the paper had been designated a "foreign agent." The BBC reported that Muratov was given the same label in 2023. The Russian authorities had not commented in the coverage reviewed.

What happens next for the journalists?

Prusenkova said it seems the paper's enemies have won, but that its journalists will probably try to find a way to continue their work. "We don't know how to do anything else," she told The Guardian.

Elena Kostyuchenko, a former Novaya journalist who spent 17 years at the paper, told The Guardian that keeping it going for four and a half years after the invasion was a miracle. She said it also reflected the daily choice of people who kept coming to work even when it was frightening. The BBC reported that staff at the Moscow offices have already begun packing.

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian, Al Jazeera, BBC News